SHEILA AFARI

Sheila Afari is a dynamic 29 year old. She was born in Ghana and grew up in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. She was a highly engage student both at high school and at tertiary level, where she held numerous leadership positions, participated in various sporting activities and volunteered at numerous organisations.

Sheila graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Social Science Degree in English and Psychology. She also has a certificate in Public Relations from the University of Cape Town and is one module away from obtaining an Honours Degree in Psychology from UNISA.

Her entrepreneurial journey began when she founded a lifestyle company in 2008 called Lavish Industries. Lavish Industries started off as just an events company but has since grown to include a décor and interior design division as well as an online lifestyle store.

Sheila later co-founded a company called Design For Style (DFS) in 2010, where she served as its director. DFS offers emerging fashion designers a platform to enter the fashion industry by showcasing their designs through fashion shows, and managing the retailing of their collections for them. Sheila resigned as DFS’s director in 2013, but still remains an avid supporter of young designers.

In 2012 Sheila started her self-named company, the Sheila Afari Group, after resigning from a Marketing Manager position of a mobile devices company. The Sheila Afari Group currently comprises of Sheila Afari Public Relations, Lavish Industries, Miss Ghana South Africa, Café Kwame and Sheila Afari Foundation. The foundation addresses issues of sexual health and empowering females aged 8 – 18 years old in making informed decisions about sex, and instilling self-worth and confidence in them. The foundation has been in the trial phase and Sheila aims to launch this foundation in late 2015.

Sheila hopes to be a successful and influential business woman in the near future and wants to be able to use her status to advocate entrepreneurship in South Africa and Africa at large. She strongly believes entrepreneurship is THE solution Africa desperately needs to combat unemployment and indirectly poverty.

When Sheila is not working you will find her blogging, writing, reading, cooking, planning weddings or entertaining guests.